The Autobiography of Sergeant William Lawrence, William Lawrence [best book club books of all time .TXT] 📗

The regiment billeted at Olivencia — Curious astronomical conjunction — Lawrence exemplifies the truth of an old proverb at the expense of his hosts, and draws down the wrath of the church on himself — Succeeds more satisfactorily in the case of his comrade — The army shifted to the valley of the Mondego — Lord Wellington's hopes in Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo being disappointed, it falls back still further to Busaco — Battle of Busaco — Lawrence makes a capture, which may be regarded by some readers as emblematic.

At the beginning of 1810 we proceeded from Badajoz to Olivencia, and were there billeted on the inhabitants, two or more in a house, as the circumstances would permit. I remember one very curious thing which occurred at this time, which was that the names of the drum-majors of the three regiments that were collected in this place were Sun, Moon, and Star, our regiment having the Moon, the Fifty-third the Sun, and the Ninth the Star, so that if having the Sun, Moon, and Star fighting for us was any help, they were there all ready.

I happened to be billeted with a comrade of the name of Lewis Phillips, a Welshman, in a house occupied by a respectable but poor man and his wife, whom we found on the whole very kindly meaning towards us. Their occupation was that of labourers, and at this particular season of the year they were employed in picking olive-berries. Before going out to their work in the morning they would prepare their supper; which, as it was then Lent, and they were not allowed to eat meat, consisted, as far as I was able to observe, of a mixture of greens, oil, cayenne pepper, and salt, which they would leave on the embers in an earthenware jar to be cooked by the time they came back; and as generally either myself or my comrade was in the way, they would ask us to occasionally give it a stir. One day after I had been there some little time, I was left as cook, and feeling in rather a mischievous mood, I cut some of my meat up very small—not much indeed, as may be supposed, out of the pound, which was all that we then received—and put it into the jar; and by nighttime it was so boiled and stirred that even I, who knew it was there, could scarcely recognize it. On their return they were very hungry and soon partook of their caldo, as they called it, pronouncing it to be very good, and praising me as the best cook they had had for some time, little suspecting what that same best cook had put into it. I was foolish enough, though indeed I did not expect what a bother I should throw up, to ask them then what they thought was in their caldo, and when I told them there was meat in it, they exclaimed they had eaten the Devil, or words to that effect in their language, which we were beginning to understand pretty well by that time after being so long in the country. When they had been and got rid of all they had eaten for supper, they reported me to their priest for making them eat meat in Lent contrary to the laws of their religion; and on the priest coming to the house he condemned me for ever, and prayed to them telling them not to take any notice, as it was done against their will and by an ignorant Protestant.

They never liked me much afterwards, nor set me to watch their caldo, and, as they were obliged to have me there still, managed to make me rather uncomfortable; but this did not altogether debar me from continuing my jokes, and more as I thought it was pretty well time for Lewis to have his turn of it. It happened that Lewis particularly disliked olive oil, and I was myself very fond of it, and as we were very seldom on duty together, it used to fall to the one off to cook and bring the other his meals to the guard. So one day I pitched upon a plan by which to take Mr. Taffy in, he being on guard and I the cook that day. I asked him what he would have for his dinner, and he said some potatoes fried in butter, a piece of bread, and his usual pint of wine: so I got some olive oil, and fried the potatoes in that instead of in butter; and when his turn came for him to be relieved for a time off sentry, took his meal to him, which, coming as it did when he was very hungry, he was not long in lapping up. I then asked him how he had enjoyed it; and he answered he had never had a better meal in his life. I said, "Lewis, I thought you did not like oil." "No, no more I do; there was no oil there." I told him I had fried the potatoes in oil, but I could not make him believe it, so at last I said if he was agreeable I would make another mess in the same manner when we were both together at liberty. He consented, so the first time we were both together to dinner I commenced my frying, he being witness to the whole operation, and I found that I succeeded better in my experiment with Lewis than with the worthy people of the house, for after that he could eat as much oil as I could.

After we had stayed at Olivencia for some weeks, chiefly in order to refresh ourselves after the long and tedious marches, warfare, and illness to which for the last two years we had been subjected, Lord Wellington removed his headquarters to Visen, and the army went for the most part into cantonments on the valley of the Mondego. Lord Wellington knew that his troops were then only strong enough for defensive operations, and was therefore determined, unless strongly reinforced, not to take rash measures; but on the enemy's fresh invasion of Portugal he again shifted his headquarters to Celorico. After that we moved on to another small place, called, as far as I am able to remember, Guarda, near Almeida, about eight or ten leagues from Ciudad Rodrigo.

Almeida was at that time garrisoned by some Portuguese troops commanded by an English officer. The French had invested it, but Lord Wellington expected that it would have been able to baffle the enemy until the commencement of the rainy season, and would thus retard the enemy's movements. Almeida was a town of very great strength, but Massena opened fire on it about the 23rd of August, and it was obliged to capitulate as soon afterwards as the 27th, a magazine containing most of the ammunition having blown up, taking with it great part of the town and the fortifications; the governor being thus disappointed of his desire to detain the French any longer. In this sad accident hundreds of the inhabitants and the soldiery, with many of the enemy, who were assembled outside to watch the effect, were launched into eternity either by the explosion itself or by the huge falling masses. And not only did this misfortune occur, but Ciudad Rodrigo meanwhile had fallen into the enemy's hands, and thus a way was opened for a fourfold contest.

Owing to these repeated disappointments of Lord Wellington's plans, we were again obliged to fall back into the valley of the Mondego, crossing that river and taking up our position on the heights of Busaco, situate about six leagues north-east of Coimbra. Our march was one of great difficulty, owing to the heavy rains and bad roads; but Lord Wellington did his best to provide against these as much as possible by taking the best road; while, on the other hand, Massena, who was following us up on his way to Lisbon, had taken the very worst; and what was more, owing to ignorance of the country, had little expected to meet a range of heights with, above all, us on the top of them, ready to retard his progress as much as possible.

We arrived at Busaco about the centre of September, and on the 26th our line was formed. Our division, under General Cole, occupied the extreme left of the line, looking down on a flat country, where the British cavalry were drawn up in reserve. The divisions of Generals Hill, Leith, and Picton occupied the right of our line, with the first division, commanded by Sir Bryant Spencer, in the centre. In the meantime the French had taken up their position in front, and a splendid view we had of their encampment from Busaco heights for a time; but it was not destined to be for long that we were to witness this fine sight, without mingling some of their best blood with ours, for early on the morning of the 27th they were in active stir, evidently in the full intention of storming our heights. We were immediately ordered under arms, and ready, if necessary, to go into action.

Early in the morning the French made their appearance. The action commenced on our right and centre, the heaviest fire keeping there the whole time that the battle lasted, as the division I was in had but slight brushes with them. The French must have lost in this engagement some four or five thousand men, while we lost little more than a thousand: but it must be borne in mind what an immense advantage we had over them, as, being situated as we were on the heights, we could witness their every movement. That night they retreated to their old position, disheartened at the little success they had gained, or rather at the actual defeat they had suffered, and not feeling inclined to renew the contest next day: and some very slight engagements were all that ensued, chiefly on the left where the light infantry were.

Whilst strolling about one day on these heights I caught a fine cock, which I tamed by tying him to my knapsack by the leg and carrying him about with me, much to the amusement of my comrades; for after I had had him about a fortnight, he became so tame that he would sit on my knapsack quite quietly, without even the string to his leg. We named him Tom, and I took to carrying him about everywhere, even on to the battlefield; wherever my knapsack went, Tom went too, and when the balls were whizzing about, which he did not seem altogether to like, he would make that curious noise which many may have observed as such which a bird like this would make when pursued or frightened. He served, however, to while away many a long and dreary hour pleasantly by his peculiar little ways, and we all became very fond of him: and he grew quite fat on the many tit-bits he received from my comrades and myself during our mess, it being quite marvellous to see how regularly he went to each in turn for his contribution. And it was still more curious to see how Tom was always ready for action on any move of the knapsacks, and not only that, but how very seldom he made any mistake as to which was the right one. However, certain it was that after he had inhabited my knapsack for a little time he had made sufficient marks on it that I could never mistake it for any other, so perhaps he went by them as well as myself.